I have written about Mindy in the past and how she wormed her way into our household…And I have some sad news.
But first a re-cap;
Mindy observed how my FatCat Skittle organised his creature comforts:

It didn’t take her long to work out how to get her beak into some of that tasty cat food;

An open patio door and she’s in!

I tolerate this because she has impeccable manners. She never shouts or hassles me for anything. She very rarely craps indoors.
Skittle of course is delighted! He will sit next to her while she finishes off his dismal leftovers. And the moment she has walked out he gives me a meaningful look; OK, tin-opener you, time to top up my plate!

The Skittle cat and I have an arrangement; an empty bowl means a guaranteed top-up of fresh tasty morsels – but a bowl of cat food with the jelly licked off means hours of arguments… Agony for the both of us, really.

Mindy has raised several new gull generations on my roof, but this winter she broke her leg.I’m not sure if the tag she was fitted with by some do-gooder is to blame. But the upshot is that she has lost her mate and he has taken up with someone else…and poor Mindy is a rather sad little girl hobbling around my garden while her erstwhile partner and his new bird large it up on my roof.
I was busy in my studio today working on a new sculpture project when I heard her flat footed patter in the hall

She had broken in through my balcony door

… she has come to see me.

She follows me through the house like a tame chicken.

But she is not a chicken, she is wild and free, riding the waves and chasing the clouds! She is a Dover White Eagle, a creature meant to soar and swoop!

And all this is going through my head when she just stares up at me and says; shut up and love me! Love me and feed me and talk to me. Tickle the feathers on my head and allow me to visit you freely.
And I will. I shall feed her cat food and I shall treat her like the pet she obviously wants to be.

What do I know.